


One Of These Things

by Wreck



Series: 20 fics in 20 days [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Black Family, Childhood, First War with Voldemort, Gen, Pre-Canon, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-03-13
Packaged: 2018-01-15 13:43:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1306942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wreck/pseuds/Wreck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Quite out of the blue, Sirius leans over to Narcissa and asks in a small voice, as if he's unsure he should be asking, "Cissa? Why is your hair a different colour than your sisters?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Of These Things

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so intrigued by The Black Family – I think they are fascinating and want to know more about them. And Narcissa might be one of my favourite (side) characters in all the the series. I'm just exploring what their childhood might have been like...
> 
> Un beta'd. All mistakes are mine.

It starts with an innocent question, as these things usually do. Children, after all, are full of curiosity and hardly realize if they are being nosey or cruel. 

It's Christmas Eve and the whole extended family is gathered together at 12 Grimmauld Place. The adults mill around sharing family gossip and judging each other, sipping elf-made wine and fire whiskey. The younger cousins have congregated in one of the empty rooms, playing wizard chess and exploding snap, stuffing themselves with hot chocolate, butter beer, and Christmas biscuits while their parents aren’t paying attention. 

Quite out of the blue, Sirius leans over to Narcissa and asks in a small voice, as if he's unsure he should be asking, "Cissa? Why is your hair a different colour than your sisters?" 

Narcissa runs a hand through her shinning blonde locks, pulling a section in front of her face to examine it. She smiles as Sirius, but before she can answer, her sister chimes in. 

"Good question, Sirius!" Bellatrix speaks as if she were praising a puppy instead of her 5-year-old cousin. She's only 13 but she can already command the attention of a room. "How can we tell if she's a real Black with all that blonde hair?"

Narcissa drops her hair and looks down at her lap, clasping her fingers tight against her emerald green party dress. She doesn't say anything. 

She's always looked up to Bellatrix, as younger sisters usually do. But since returning from Hogwarts for the holidays, Ballatrix has only looked at her 9-year-old sister with scorn. Narcissa has no idea what she's meant to have done to anger her sister. She has no idea what has changed since they hugged each other goodbye on Platform 9¾ in September. 

"Bella, you mustn't say––" Andromeda starts, looking between her two sisters. 

"It's true though, Ands! Why is it so different? Why is she so different from us? If she's different, she isn't one of us!" Bellatrix looks triumphant and she moves to stand between Andromeda and her youngest sister, separating them.

Sirius looks up at the devastated expression on Narcissa's face and clenches his tiny fists. He looks back to Bellatrix, confused. "What's so wrong with be different, then?"

"Everything." Bellatrix snarls, voice like venom.

Sirius stands frozen in shock, looking like he was just slapped. Narcissa bursts into tears and runs to her room. 

 

Two years later, when Narcissa takes the train to Hogwarts for the first time, and is sorted into Slytherin, and joins her sisters at the long house table she begins to understand. That first night in the common room, when she hears the pride of her housemates as they sit around the fire, things become more and more clear. And when she finally meets the Lestrange boy, and sees the way that her sister is drawn to him, hooked on the words of someone else that he repeats in whispers, that she will finally fully understand what happened that Christmas. And, more importantly, she'll understand why Bellatrix starts talking to her again.


End file.
